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TRI and DMR Comparison Dashboard Help

The dashboard provides a comparison of wastewater discharge data reported on Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) under the Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program and water releases reported under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) at a national, regional or state level.

Instructions

The dashboard initially displays nationwide comparisons for the most recent year of data. The pie charts illustrate the facility and chemical universes, while the graphs display the top industries and chemicals released for the selected year and geographic area.

Using the Pie Charts

Click on a pie slice to download the data associated only with that series.

Click on a series label in the legend to toggle the series on or off. Each slice of the pie will dynamically adjust proportionate to the series that are toggled on; however, the value of each series will not change. For documentation of the chart elements and data displayed, see Facility Universe and Chemical Universe.

Example Top Industries Graph Example of Toggling a Series Off on the Top Industries Graph

Click on a vertical axis label (i.e., industry or chemical group) to display a comparative drilldown of the top DMR and TRI metrics (i.e., number of facilities, total pounds or total TWPE) for the selected category. Alternatively, click on a bar to display a drill down of only the top metrics for the selected data series and category. Click the Back to Industries/Chemicals button to return to the initial graph.

Example Top Industries Drilldown Example of an Industry Drilldown on the Top Industries Graph

Search Criteria

Users may select a reporting year and geographic area (i.e., EPA Region or State) from the dropdown menus. Additional Location or Watershed Search Criteria are also available by expanding the Additional Search Criteria bar. Click Refresh Charts to load the charts based on your selection.

EPA Region - The EPA designated area that U.S. states, territories, and tribes are assigned to. There are 10 EPA regions.

State - The states and territories of the United States.

Facility Location

City - The city name for the facility location. Users must select a state to enter a city name. Note that city names can be blank in FRS and ICIS-NPDES. If the city name is not provided for a facility, then searching by city name search will produce no results for that facility.

County - The county name for the facility location. Users must select a state to enter a county name. Note that county names can be blank in FRS and ICIS-NPDES. If the county name is not provided for a facility, then searching by county name will produce no results for that facility.

ZIP Code (5-digit) - The 5-digit mail code for the facility address. Enter a ZIP code to identify facilities located in a specific ZIP code. Not that ZIP codes are not required in FRS or ICIS-NPDES. If a facility's ZIP code is blank, then the ZIP code search will exclude the facility.

Only include facilities that discharge:

To impaired waterbodies: Under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act, states, territories, and authorized tribes are required to develop lists of impaired waters. Impaired waterbodies are waters that are too polluted or otherwise degraded to meet the water quality standards set by states, territories, or authorized tribes. The law requires that these jurisdictions establish priority rankings for waters on the lists and develop TMDLs for these waters. A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still safely meet water quality standards.

Pollutants contributing to a waterbody impairment: Limit results to facilities that discharged pollutants that are potentially contributing to the impairment of local waterbodies.

To counties or watersheds with ESA-listed aquatic species: ESA-listed aquatic species are a group of organisms that live in the water for most or all of its life and are designated as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The purpose of the ESA is to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. It is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

Receiving Watershed

Watersheds in ZIP Code - The 5-digit mail code for the facility address to identify facilities in watersheds that overlap with the specified ZIP code's geographic boundaries. For this type of search, the search will produce results if:

The specified ZIP code overlaps with a Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) in the Watershed Boundary Database

The corresponding HUC is connected with a NPDES ID in the Watershed Boundary Dataset; and

The corresponding NPDES ID is in ICIS-NPDES.

Watershed ID (12-Digit HUC)

Code assigned by the U.S. Geological Survey used to classify watersheds in the United States and the Caribbean. Code consists of twelve digits which correspond to six levels of classification Region (first-level, 2-digit HUC), Subregion (second-level, 4-digit HUC), Accounting unit (third-level, 6-digit HUC), Cataloging unit (fourth-level, 8-digit HUC), Watershed (fifth-level, 10-digit HUC), and Subwatershed (sixth-level, 12-digit HUC). This field is not required to be populated in the source database.

The Loading Tool links facility discharges with hydrologic unit codes (HUC-12) using a WATERS web service. Searching on HUC-12 will produce results if the WATERS web service returns NPDES IDs that correspond to the specified HUC-12. For more information see Overview of Watershed Data.

Major U.S. Watersheds - Search for facilities located within watershed boundaries defined by:

Major Watersheds: the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, Chesapeake Bay, Columbia River Basin, Delaware Bay, Delaware River Basin, Great Lakes, Long Island Sound, Lower Columbia River Basin, Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin, Mobile Bay, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, and Tampa Bay. Many of these watersheds consist of several HUC-12 codes. Maps of these watersheds are available from HUC Maps and Codes for Major U.S. Watersheds.

USGS Watersheds: The U.S. Geological Survey classifies watersheds in the U.S. and Caribbean into 21 regions, represented by a 2-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC).

Large Aquatic Ecosystems (LAEs) Program: EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans & Watersheds classifies LAEs to include multiple small watersheds and water resources within a large geographic area that provides significant resources or services, such as food supply,recreation and tourism, groundwater recharge, flood management, air purification, nutrient cycling, and wildlife habitat.

National Estuaries Program (NEP): The NEP identifies nationally significant estuaries of the U.S. for protection and restoration. EPA administers the NEP, but program decisions and activities are carried out by committees of local government officials, private citizens, and representatives from other federal agencies, academic institutions, industry, and estuary user-groups. Estuaries are selected for inclusion in the program through a nomination process. There are currently 28 estuary programs implemented in the U.S.

Number of Direct Dischargers

Dischargers are counted by Facility Registry Service (FRS) ID. FRS identifies a facility by assigning an identification number (FRS ID), and uses this FRS ID to link together all regulatory program database records (such as permit IDs and facility IDs that facilities use in reporting to EPA). The DMR data system, ICIS-NPDES, identifies facilities using NPDES permit numbers, while TRI identifies facilities using a unique TRI Facility ID (TRIFID). Both data systems provide the corresponding FRS ID for each NPDES permit and TRIFID. For more information, see Linking DMR and TRI data.

TRI: The number of FRS IDs reporting releases to surface waters of zero or greater pounds under the TRI Program.

DMR: The number of FRS IDs reporting pollutant discharges to surface waters under the NPDES permit program of zero or greater pounds.

Note: FRS IDs may link to one or more NPDES IDs or TRIFIDs. As a result, the counts displayed in the Comparative Dashboard may not match counts in the results of a TRI or DMR Water Pollution Search, as the search statistics for these features count TRIFIDs and NPDES IDs, respectively.

Number of Chemicals

DMRs use parameter codes to identify pollutants. These parameter codes are specific to the chemical identity (chemical abstract service (CAS) number) and analysis type. As a result, multiple parameter codes may exist for a single CAS number (e.g., total residual chlorine, free available chlorine).

In TRI, chemicals are identified, for the most part, using CAS numbers. TRI also includes chemical categories, such as glycol ethers and chlorophenols, which comprise multiple CAS numbers.

To match DMR discharge data to TRI releases, EPA assigns chemicals to a list of unique chemical groups. To learn more about linking DMR and TRI chemicals and download the chemical groupings, see the discussion of the Pollutant Crosswalk in Linking DMR and TRI data.

TRI: The number of distinct chemical groups reported as released. For a list of chemicals covered under the TRI program, see TRI-Listed Chemicals.

Other Non-TRI Industry - Industrial facilities reporting DMRs that are not classified in an industry sector that reports to TRI and did not report to TRI. For more information on industry classifications in the DMR Pollutant Loading Tool, see Linking DMR and TRI data.

TRI Industry but no TRI forms - Industrial facilities reporting DMRs that are classified in a specific industry sector that reports to TRI, but did not report to TRI. For more information on industry classifications in the DMR Pollutant Loading Tool, see Linking DMR and TRI data.

A facility must meet three reporting thresholds to be required to report to TRI. For more information on TRI reporting criteria, see the Basics of TRI Reporting.

Download Facility List: Select to download a comma-separated values (CSV) file of the DMR and TRI facilities. The data included are described in the table below.

Tip: To learn more about a particular facility, search for the facility by name or program ID using the Facility Search to access the Facility Information page.

Data Elements in Facility Universe Download

Table Column

Description

FRS ID

Facility Registry Service (FRS) identification number. FRS uniquely identifies a facility by assigning an identification number (FRS ID), and uses this FRS ID to link together all regulatory program database records (such as permit IDs and facility IDs that facilities use in reporting to EPA).

NPDES IDs

A unique 9-character ID assigned for each permit within the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. The ID may contain both letters and numbers and often begins with the two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the facility is permitted.

TRI FIDs

A unique 15-character ID assigned for each facility within the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. The format is ZZZZZNNNNNSSSSS, where ZZZZZ = ZIP code, NNNNN = the first 5 consonants of the name, and SSSSS = the first 5 non-blank non-special characters in the street address.

Facility Name

The company or permit holder name as maintained in FRS.

City

The city where the facility is located, as maintained in FRS.

County

The county where the facility is located, as maintained in FRS.

State

The two-character state abbreviation where the facility is located, as maintained in FRS.

EPA Region

The EPA Region where the facility is located. EPA has 10 regional offices that execute programs within several states and territories.

ZIP

The 5- to 9-digit ZIP code where the facility is located.

HUC-12 Code

The 12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) of the watershed in which the facility resides. A HUC number is assigned by the US Geological Survey used to classify watersheds in the United States and the Caribbean. The code consists of twelve digits which correspond to six levels of classification Region (first-level, 2-digit HUC), Subregion (second-level, 4-digit HUC), Accounting unit (third-level, 6-digit HUC), Cataloguing unit (fourth-level, 8-digit HUC), Watershed (fifth-level, 10-digit HUC), and Subwatershed (sixth-level, 12-digit HUC).

Discharges to Impaired Waterbodies

A Yes/No field to indicate whether the facility discharges wastewater to an impaired waterbody. Impaired waterbodies are waters that are too polluted or otherwise degraded to meet the water quality standards set by states, territories, or authorized tribes.

Discharges Pollutants Contributing to Waterbody Impairment

A Yes/No field to indicate whether the facility discharges pollutants potentially contributing to the receiving waterbody's impairment.

DMR Facility Type

The facility ownership classification derived from codes in ICIS-NPDES. Facilities can be classified as publicly owned treatment works (POTW), non-POTW, federal, or state. "None" indicates that a facility type was not entered.

DMR Industry

The name of the DMR industry sector, based on the 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code.

TRI Industry Flag

A Yes/No field to indicate whether the facility is classified within a TRI industry sector.

TRI Industry

The name of the TRI Industry sector, based on the 6-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. A list of the industry sectors can be found in Linking DMR and TRI data.

DMR Pounds

The total pounds of pollutants discharged by the FRS ID. Pollutant discharge amounts are calculated using DMR data from ICIS-NPDES.

All Toxic Chemicals - Chemical groups with TWFs (e.g., excludes BOD, TSS etc.). This category includes all chemical groups within the TRI chemicals category as well as other toxic chemicals that are not on the TRI list.

All Chemicals - No restrictions. All chemical groups are included.

Users may view the top five industries and chemical groups, sorted descending, based the following attributes:

Top Industries

The graph displays the DMR and TRI values for the top five industries based on the selected metric, chemical universe, and facility universe. For the complete list of industries and associated metrics, select Download All Industries to download a CSV file. Select Download All Facilities to download a CSV file of all facilities classified under each industry category. The data included are described in the tables below.

Tip: To dig deeper and view multiple years of data by industry classification, use the Water Pollution Search. On the TRI Search Results page, under the Top NAICS Discharges table, click "Compare to DMR."

Data Elements in Top Industries - All Industries Download

Table Column

Description

Industry

The name of the TRI Industry sector, based on the 6-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code associated with the TRI ID. A list of the industry sectors can be found in Linking DMR and TRI Data.

DMR Facility Count

The highest count of FRS IDs reporting DMRs.

TRI Facility Count

The highest count of FRS IDs reporting direct discharges to TRI.

DMR Pounds

The total pounds of pollutants discharged by the FRS ID. Pollutant discharge amounts are calculated using DMR data from ICIS-NPDES.

Facility Registry Service (FRS) identification number. FRS uniquely identifies a facility by assigning an identification number (FRS ID), and uses this FRS ID to link together all regulatory program database records (such as permit IDs and facility IDs that facilities use in reporting to EPA).

NPDES IDs

A unique 9-character ID assigned for each permit within the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. The ID may contain both letters and numbers and often begins with the two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the facility is permitted.

TRI FIDs

A unique 15-character ID assigned for each facility within the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. The format is ZZZZZNNNNNSSSSS, where ZZZZZ = ZIP code, NNNNN = the first 5 consonants of the name, and SSSSS = the first 5 non-blank non-special characters in the street address.

Facility Name

The company or permit holder name as maintained in FRS.

City

The city where the facility is located, as maintained in FRS.

County

The county where the facility is located, as maintained in FRS.

State

The two-character state abbreviation where the facility is located, as maintained in FRS.

EPA Region

The EPA Region where the facility is located. EPA has 10 regional offices that execute programs within several states and territories.

ZIP

The 5- to 9-digit ZIP code where the facility is located.

HUC-12 Code

The 12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) of the watershed in which the facility resides. A HUC number is assigned by the US Geological Survey used to classify watersheds in the United States and the Caribbean. The code consists of twelve digits which correspond to six levels of classification Region (first-level, 2-digit HUC), Subregion (second-level, 4-digit HUC), Accounting unit (third-level, 6-digit HUC), Cataloguing unit (fourth-level, 8-digit HUC), Watershed (fifth-level, 10-digit HUC), and Subwatershed (sixth-level, 12-digit HUC).

DMR Facility Type

The facility ownership classification derived from codes in ICIS-NPDES. Facilities can be classified as publicly owned treatment works (POTW), non-POTW, federal, or state.

DMR Industry

The name of the DMR industry sector, based on the 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code.

TRI Industry Flag

A Yes/No field to indicate whether the facility is classified within a TRI industry sector.

TRI Industry

The name of the TRI Industry sector, based on the 6-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. A list of the industry sectors can be found in Linking DMR and TRI Data.

DMR Pounds

The total pounds of pollutants discharged by the FRS ID. Pollutant discharge amounts are calculated using DMR data from ICIS-NPDES.

Unique URL for each FRS ID to access the Facility Multi-Year Loading Report

Top Chemicals

The graph displays the DMR and TRI values for the top five chemicals discharged based on the selected metric, chemical universe, and facility universe. For the complete list of chemicals discharges and associated metrics, select Download All Chemicals to download a CSV file. Select Download All Facilities to download a CSV file of all chemical discharges from each facility. The data included are described in the tables below.

Tip: To dig deeper and view multiple years of data by chemical group, use the TRI Search. On the TRI Search Results page, under the Top Chemicals table, click "Compare to DMR."

Facility Registry Service (FRS) identification number. FRS uniquely identifies a facility by assigning an identification number (FRS ID), and uses this FRS ID to link together all regulatory program database records (such as permit IDs and facility IDs that facilities use in reporting to EPA).

NPDES IDs

A unique 9-character ID assigned for each permit within the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. The ID may contain both letters and numbers and often begins with the two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the facility is permitted.

TRI FIDs

A unique 15-character ID assigned for each facility within the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. The format is ZZZZZNNNNNSSSSS, where ZZZZZ = ZIP code, NNNNN = the first 5 consonants of the name, and SSSSS = the first 5 non-blank non-special characters in the street address.

Facility Name

The company or permit holder name as maintained in FRS.

City

The city where the facility is located, as maintained in FRS.

County

The county where the facility is located, as maintained in FRS.

State

The two-character state abbreviation where the facility is located, as maintained in FRS.

EPA Region

The EPA Region where the facility is located. EPA has 10 regional offices that execute programs within several states and territories.

ZIP

The 5- to 9-digit ZIP code where the facility is located.

HUC-12 Code

The 12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) of the watershed in which the facility resides. A HUC number is assigned by the US Geological Survey used to classify watersheds in the United States and the Caribbean. The code consists of twelve digits which correspond to six levels of classification Region (first-level, 2-digit HUC), Subregion (second-level, 4-digit HUC), Accounting unit (third-level, 6-digit HUC), Cataloguing unit (fourth-level, 8-digit HUC), Watershed (fifth-level, 10-digit HUC), and Subwatershed (sixth-level, 12-digit HUC).

DMR Facility Type

The facility ownership classification derived from codes in ICIS-NPDES. Facilities can be classified as publicly owned treatment works (POTW), non-POTW, federal, or state.

DMR Industry

The name of the DMR industry sector, based on the 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code.

TRI Industry Flag

A Yes/No field to indicate whether the facility is classified within a TRI industry sector.

TRI Industry

The name of the TRI Industry sector, based on the 6-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. A list of the industry sectors can be found in Linking DMR and TRI Data.

DMR Pounds

The total pounds of pollutants discharged by the FRS ID. Pollutant discharge amounts are calculated using DMR data from ICIS-NPDES.